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Jawbreaker
Dear You
Blackball CD
Jawbreaker is one of the most exhilarating melodic punk-rock outfits ever.
Originally released by DGC, ex-Jawbreaker drummer Adam Pfahler has re-released the out-of-print Dear You on his label Blackball (a label that is fourteen years old, but has only released four albums, all by Jawbreaker). The re-release contains five extra tracks, including the video for "Fireman," which I vaguely remember seeing on 120 Minutes (but I have to give that show credit for exposing me to so many amazing indie-rock outfits throughout my high school years).
I would be lying if I said Dear You is my favorite Jawbreaker release. 24 Hour Revenge Therapy will always be the first Jawbreaker album I listened to and immediately fell in love with in high school. 24 Hour Revenge Therapy would be the album I listened to every time I cut my parents grass for three straight summers (I had to crank that walkman pretty damn high to compete with the riding lawnmower, which probably contributed to the slight hearing loss I experience today). 24 Hour Revenge Therapy was like no other punk-rock album I had heard at that time of my life, and still until this day. Its one of the most powerful, significant albums I own, and it's the release I fall back to whenever I hear slipshod imitations of the classic Jawbreaker sound. I hold it in the highest regards.
My senior year I picked up a copy of Dear You. At first, it didn't grab me as much as 24 Hour Revenge Therapy, or even the rawness of Unfun. The love wasn't immediate, but over the years I have indulged myself more and more in Dear You's crystalline, melodic somberness. It is an excellent album; I just didn't realize it at first.
Re-released with extra songs, new layout imagery, and a video to boot, Dear You is a must, even if you own the old DGC copy (mine being a promo copy that was purchased at a used CD store). The newly added "Shirt" is a J. Robbins mixed track that's as slick and catchy as the rest of the hook-laden cuts on Dear You ("I wanna be your shirt so I can hug you while you work"). "Into You Like A Train" is a Psychedelic Furs cover that encompasses that dynamic resonance Jawbreaker crafted so well. My favorite new tune "Sister," the grave sedateness of "Friendly Fire," and a reworked version of "Boxcar" (the 24 Hour Revenge Therapy original is a lot more potent) round out the bonus songs on Dear You, but they hardly feel like b-side throwaways.
The newly added images scattered throughout the layout are amusing, and the image of Kurt Cobain wearing Jawbreaker's classic Molton Salt girl shirt was a cool surprise, well, that and the image of the enigma known as Burt Reynolds (the Church of Burt would be proud).
Sure, Dear You feels too clean and overproduced, especially matched with all three releases before it that are gritty punk-rock essentials, but that doesn't stop Jawbreaker's last effort from being admirable. Some of my favorite Jawbreaker tracks are etched on this release: "Million," "Jet Black," "Basilica," and "Oyster." Dear You sure as hell beats most insipid melodic punk-rock records being released today, proving Jawbreaker's music is still relevant, perhaps more so now then ever before.
"One, two, three, four. Who's punk? What's the score?"* Jawbreaker, and it's a punk-clinching shutout.
by Fake Train
*Taken from the song "Boxcar"
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